Best Can Do A Lot Better At Newcastle

Chris Hughton has talked about new boy Leon Best today, and he’s backing the 23 year-old Nottingham-born player to get his first goals for the Magpies soon.

Leon Best – wants his first goal

Leon could have scored against Cardiff City, on his debut, but missed a sitter from about 6 yards out, when he headed the ball wide.

But Chris Hughton is backing Best to score sooner rather than later – and hey, a good time would be tomorrow night against his old club.

Chris said today:

“When you come to a new club you want to make an impact or a contribution almost immediately,”

“Leon hasn’t been able to get that goal I’m sure he would’ve liked but he’ll be pleased to have played a big part in Saturday’s draw.”

“The goal wouldn’t have been possible without his cross and it helped to secure what was a massive point for us.”

“He can use that now as a boost to get his first goal and I’m sure that won’t be too far away.”

“He’s a player we need to get closer to the goal because there’s no doubt that when he’s in the area he can finish.”

“He arrived with ten goals already this season and he’ll be desperate to add to that as soon as possible with us.”

Best would love to score against his former club, and we think Hughton will give him a start up front alongside Andy Carroll tomorrow night.

Andy seems to be in very good form and scoring goals, which is good.

Leon had a more than decent game at Coventry on 9th December against Newcastle, when he had a couple of good efforts well saved by goalkeeper Steve Harper.

But Chris knew all about the player long before then, as he continued:

“Leon did well that night,” “But he is a player we have known about for a long time and our opinion was not based on that one performance.”

“He is a player we feel has a lot of potential, he is a good age at 23 and we feel he can improve in this environment at Newcastle.”

The good thing about the January transfer window, when Best came in on the very last day, was that the Newcastle coaching and scouting staff really seemed to have done their homework, and had their targets lined up.

It even looked at times like we knew what we were doing during the transfer window, which came as a bit of a surprise. 😀

Yes, it wasn’t possible to get the top two targets, Kilgallon and Beckford, but we seemed to have got in a few decent players.

If we can get promoted it’s going to be very interesting to see who Chris goes after in the summer.

We will need some good players added to the squad, which may not yet be good enough for promotion, never mind surviving in the PL next season.

But first things first – and we need a win tomorrow night against Coventry City.

14 responses so far ↓

Everyone is going on about the sitter he missed with his head against Cardiff but what people arent mentioning is that he was flagged offside and it wouldnt have stood if it had gone in.
Lets give the lad time to settle in and remember it was Andy who when Cole signed and look what happened there.

Damn…CCC HT rival watch…
WestBrom were trailing to an 8th minute penalty by Cardiff (Whittingham) but have equalised just before HT (Gianni Zuiverloon). Come on Chopra..do your hometown a favour and put a few for us!!!
Forest leading Shef Utd 1-0 through Earnshaw

Agree with Roy Cropper on the Nile Ranger front. Will be happy to see Best come good, but so far the jury is still out, still, its early days yet and I will be happy if he does turn out to be another Andy Cole.

That should read our top 3 targets were missed: Kilgallon, Beckford and Moses.

Best is an honest lad with plenty power and a bustling style but I’d be very surprised if he ever makes any impression outside of this level, while Ranger has at least a chance of doing so and being exceptional.

Theres nothing to say he won’t become a class act in a few years time when hes at the age Best is now.

But for one reason of another he isn’t banging them in at this level and I think, given a run in the side, Best will get the goals we need to get out of this division.

After that he’ll probably do sweet FA but the priority is to get out of the CCC. Granted Ranger may not develop quite as quickly in the Prem, but we’ll be in the Prem which is the important thing, and having him come into his own over time rather than relying on him in our first season back up may be a good thing.

To be fair to Best and to Ranger. We have seen Ranger many times, who in my opinion, is an excellent prospect. He has missed some sitters with his head this season too. We have to give Best a chance. His build up play and first touch are better than both Caroll and Ameobi this is quite evident on what we have seen already. His goal tally for this division matches them both. Give him a chance.

Best has shown a good degree of hustle, not a one dimentional player as is Carroll.
Has pace and can put himself about, plays the full ninety minutes.
With a decent goal tally with Coventry, lets hope he can continue that run, with a few for us.

In honor of two dedicated Newcastle fans, who lost their lives supporting Newcastle United, when their passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday July 17th, 2014 by rebels, as they were traveling to support the team in New Zealand.

We will never forget them.

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